US forces followed up strikes on Syria and Iraq with a new round of attacks against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, signaling that US President Joe Biden is willing to deepen US involvement in the region’s spreading conflict.
Targeting Houthi sites at 13 locations in Yemen, the US and its allies escalated their effort to destroy the militant group’s ability to attack Red Sea shipping with strikes including their hardened facilities. It marked the biggest set of strikes against the Houthis since an initial operation on Jan. 11, also carried out jointly by the US and the UK.
Supported by six other countries including Bahrain, the strikes on Saturday targeted 36 Houthi sites, specifically those associated with the group’s deeply-buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Photo: US Central Command via AFP
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, and the lives of innocent mariners,” it said, adding that “we will not hesitate to continue to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways.”
However, a Houthi leader said the group would not be deterred by the new round of strikes — nor by ones to come.
“The American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered,” said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political council, in a statement on X. “We will confront escalation with escalation.”
The targets included areas around the capital Sana’a, the port city of Hodeida and several provinces.
Houthi missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea region have disrupted global trade, raised concern of higher oil prices, prompted major shipping companies to divert carriers to longer routes and led the Biden administration to mount a naval operation along with other countries in an effort to end the threat.
The Pentagon specifically cited a dramatic attack on the Marlin Luanda, a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker operated on behalf of trading giant Trafigura Group that was set ablaze last week in a missile attack claimed by the Houthis. The ship was carrying Russian-origin naphtha, a product used to make plastics and gasoline.
“We remain committed to protecting freedom of navigation and international commerce and holding the Houthis accountable for their illegal and unjustifiable attacks on commercial shipping and naval vessels,” the Pentagon said.
On Friday, US air strikes targeted Iranian forces and militias in Iraq and Syria in what the Biden administration described as retaliation for a drone attack a week ago in northeast Jordan by an Iran-linked militant group, which killed three US service members.
The Iraqi government said that civilians were among at least 16 people killed and 25 injured on its soil.
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